


Wanted: Protected

by momojuusu



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 12:44:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15001148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momojuusu/pseuds/momojuusu
Summary: Suho sleeps peacefully. Chanyeol wants to keep it that way. Forever.





	Wanted: Protected

**Author's Note:**

> Credit goes to Poet for the title.

It had been dark when Chanyeol arrived home. The digital watch around his wrist showed him the numbers 11:30 PM. He walked silently, trying not to make any noises as he moved to the living room. His apartment was dim. Chanyeol bet he had been asleep.

He, who should not have been here. He, who should have been died. He, whose existence was hunted.

He was there, lying on the couch in the living room. The TV was still on, showing late night news. And he, as what Chanyeol had expected, was sleeping. He looked serene, peace on his face. The noises from the TV didn’t seem to bother him at all. Chanyeol made a small smile. He bent down, tips of fingers touching the soft strands on the forehead. _Beautiful,_ he told himself.

Jet-black hair. Fair skin. Red lips. He was so beautiful. Also, so dangerous.

Chanyeol found him two years ago. He wasn’t in good condition back then. Actually, he was really in a bad shape at their first meeting. He looked so weak, so helpless. He was hurt, blood running down his left arm. _“I need to hide,”_ he said. _“They’d take me away if they found me.”_

What did this man have done? Who were ‘they’? Why would ‘they’ take him away and where to? What would happen to him?

Chanyeol didn’t have enough time to ask. Soon, he heard a car—or more than one car—stopped, their tires making screeching noises as they stopped abruptly. The man started to panic. Chanyeol didn’t have enough time to think.

He could not help him. He could not put himself in troubles. He could tell the truth to this black-suited man—obviously not a local policeman or anyone from an authorized organization. But, he still hid the man in his car, telling him to bend down and keep quiet. He lied to save him. He brought him home. He treated his wounds. He let him stay. He gave him a chance to live.

He even gave him a name.

 _“What’s your name?”_ he asked. _“I’m Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.”_

_“I—I don’t have the name. They never gave me a name.”_

_“Then what did they call you?”_

He raised his arm, showing the small numbers carved on his skin. 01.

_“One. They called me One.”_

Chanyeol didn’t want to call him One. It wasn’t a name. It was a number. It made him feel like talking to a lab rat rather than a human. Hence he gave him a name.

_“Suho. I’ll call you Suho from now on.”_

Suho tilted his head. _“Why Suho?”_

Chanyeol pointed at the TV with his chin, which was currently showing a video clip of a famous singer. _“That man. Suho. He kinda looks like you.”_ It was a silly reason to pick a name for someone, but it was true. From some angles, Suho the singer quite looked similar as Suho the stranger.

 _“Suho,”_ Suho repeated the name. Then he smiled. Chanyeol knew he liked the name.

(And Chanyeol, he liked his smile.)

They were drowned into a long conversation after that, mostly about Suho. He told Chanyeol about where he came from, a scientific laboratory which belonged to a well-known company. Chanyeol knew that company, everyone did. It made it hard to believe that such a company would run a human experience, and Suho was the experienced object.

Suho was raised there. He had something special in him, something that would make a profit to the company if they managed to control it. They believed they could control it. They were wrong.

The moment Suho ran away, he burned down the lab to the ground, into ashes. Nothing left, everyone died. It was unbelievable, how a man with a tiny, skinny body could kill so many people in a short span of time. It sounded like something that came from a science-fiction book. Chanyeol wouldn’t believe it if he didn’t see news about it _everywhere_.

_Kim Laboratory was burned last night._

_There are no survivors._

_The police are currently running an investigation to find the cause of the fire._

_“The police won’t find me,”_ Suho stated in a weak voice. _“They won’t let them catch me. They want to catch me themselves._ He _might want to punish me with his own hand.”_

Chanyeol didn’t ask further about who this ‘he’ that Suho mentioned. He assumed that everything ‘they’ did in the lab was confidential, or it could even be illegal. He kept his eyes on Suho’s face, studying the expression, noticing the fear in his eyes. Thus he wouldn’t force him to tell everything, at least not now.

It had been two years and there were so many moments they had been through together. It was hard at first; Suho knew nothing about the world and Chanyeol should teach him _patiently_ one by one. They lived in fear, afraid that one day, ‘they’ would knock on their door and take Suho away. They should be extra careful in whatever they did. He couldn’t let Suho go outside alone. The fewer people knew about Suho’s existence in his apartment, the better.

Suho should hide. Chanyeol should keep him hidden.

It had been two years, enough for Chanyeol to adapt to the other’s presence, enough to learn many sides of him, enough to get comfortable when he was around.

Two years were enough to get used to his softness, his warmth. Two years were enough to get used to his arms around him. Two years were enough to get used to the sweet scent of his body.

Two years gave him enough time to fall for Suho.

(But he kept it to himself. They didn’t need love in this mess. Suho wouldn’t understand what love was either, so there was no point in telling him.)

“You’re home.”

Those eyes were open, staring at him. Suho took Chanyeol’s hand, putting it on his own cheek. Suho was warm.

“Told you not to sleep on the couch. It’s cold here.”

“Carry me inside, then.”

“Spoilt brat,” There was nothing harmful in his tone, though.

He carried him inside, wondering how this tiny man could do something dangerous when most of the time, he was nothing more than a cute and soft fluffball. If he didn’t see it himself—Suho _almost_ blew up his apartment when his power went out of control last year, and it was _terrifying_ —he wouldn’t believe anything coming from Suho’s mouth about his power and everything about that.

They lay in bed, Suho in Chanyeol’s arms. The man had been back to sleep while Chanyeol was wide awake, mind wandering around. Two years were quite a long time and it amazed him that they could keep it up until now. He didn’t know when would their secret be revealed, when ‘they’ would finally find him—Chanyeol didn’t even want to think about it.

The peace they had for now, it was the only thing Chanyeol wanted to think about. The man in his arms now, he was the only person Chanyeol wanted to protect, even if it costed his life.

Suho was the only one mattered.

With that thought, Chanyeol closed his eyes.

 

* * *

 

There was a series of banging on his door. Suho was alarmed. Chanyeol took his hand, holding it tightly.

_About time._


End file.
